Tuesday, April 02, 2013

Food for Thought from Mark Twain

I just read this paragraph in Mark Twain's "Life on the Mississippi" (which is a great book by the way - just in case you haven't read it).

On this up trip I saw a little towhead (infant island) half a mile long, which had been formed during the past nineteen years. Since there was so much time to spare that nineteen years of it could be devoted to the construction of a mere towhead, where was the use, originally, in rushing this whole globe through in six days? It is likely that if more time had been taken, in the first place, the world would have been made right, and this ceaseless improving and repairing would not be necessary now. But if you hurry a world or a house, you are nearly sure to find out by and by that you have left out a towhead, or a broom-closet, or some other little convenience, here and there, which has got to be supplied, no matter how much expense and vexation it may cost.

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Rabbi Sedley

David Sedley lives in Jerusalem with his wife and children. He teaches and tutors and continues writing, translating and editing books. He also gives a shiur on webyeshiva.org. In addition he is involved with FullFrameMedia.org, an organisation showing the narratives and lives of Israelis and Palestinians.